Hi, everyone! Happy Autumn. 

I’ve slipped on getting regular updates out again. Somehow my life seems so busy I don’t get everything done I plan. But one thing I finally got done is the sequel book to Time Walker! That’s right, Splintered Time is now available on Amazon Kindle. This novel turned out to be a battle to get it edited, rewritten, edited and critiqued, and edited again. Time travel is complex, with so many things to think about when moving from one time to another, even in a fantasy setting, 

Splintered Time picks up where Time Walker ended and takes Mali and Doyle in a different direction. When she tries to return Doyle to his own time, they end up decades in Doyle’s future. Here, Mali sees many changes to technology and history, leading her to suspect Rashid Varsi has a hand in it. 

Meanwhile, Mali’s roomie, Anna Brixton, aka Brix, worries when Mali doesn’t return and starts to investigate. She discovers a conspiracy on the space station and makes plans to find Mali in the past.

Splintered Time is available now on Amazon at this link. You can read it for free right now on Kindle Unlimited. Or you can read it for free on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday – Nov. 19-21. If you haven’t read Time Walker, the book will be on sale at Amazon for $2.99 (regularly $3.99) for the same time on this special promotion. 

NaNoWriMo

Yes, I’m doing it again. Although I admit most of the writing this month is for my other pen name, Riona Kelly. I am writing a paranormal, cozy mystery there. But I am also trying to finish up the first draft of Outer Rim, the sequel book to O’Ceagan’s Legacy. It is about 90% complete, and I just have to get the last two chapters done. Once that’s done, it will sit through December, then I plan to begin editing it in January. I am hoping for a spring release of this space-hopping novel.

Captain Grania and her sibling crew are back on the newly repaired Mo Chroidhe. They have taken a job to deliver special cargo to the edge of the galaxy. While Sheelin, the banshee, is not on this trip, the puca Dari is along and raising a bit of havoc. Look for another fun adventure with the O’Ceagan crew.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving if you’re in the US, or just a plain happy November with holiday shopping and celebrations looming in the next few weeks. 

Be sure to pick up your copy of Splintered Time this weekend! Nothing would make me happier than to see lots of downloads, except seeing reviews go up from happy readers! 

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Episode 13 of Cynara’s Destiny just went up on Vella last night.  In this episode, Maltron faces some severe worries following his failure to take the princess captive. Now he has a big decision to make.

Having trouble finding the series? Me, too. In fact, it’s one of the things Amazon isn’t doing well and I talk about it in the next section. But for now, here’s the link to the story and I’m going to put it in the right column so you can find it easily from my Loft.

To those who have read a couple of episodes, thank you so much and I hope you’ll read more. Be sure to give me a “thumb’s up” and that all-important review would be so welcome.

The State of Amazon Vella

I hopped on board at the start of Amazon’s new reader platform, Vella. It’s episodic reading. Think of it as a television series, only in book form. But it has its problems.

In some ways, it’s ironic it’s called Kindle Vella since it isn’t, at this time, available to Kindle’s readers. This may be one of the several issues in the newest reading platform from Amazon KDP.

The episodic stories published on Vella are available on readers and phones that support iOS or a computer going directly to the link. For phones and tablets that support iOS, you can download the Kindle iOS app.

Since the program is still in the beta stage, it lacks other features, which could make it better for the authors and readers. Finding stories can be difficult if you’re looking for a specific book or author since it doesn’t have a search option within the Vella section. If you know the name of the story and the author, you might be able to find it on the Amazon search in Kindle. I’ve had mixed results with this.

If you locate a story you want to follow, you can click the follow button. But, it seems to be hit or miss if you’ll get a notice when a new episode is uploaded. Some readers report getting notified on their phones or tablets, but not always. If you are using a computer to read, you don’t get anything.

Right now, Vella is only available in the United States. British and Canadian authors are anxious to give it a try, but I think when the beta period ends, they will have better results than the U.S. Guinea pigs.

Amazon hasn’t advertised or promoted Vella much, seeming to rely on the author users to do most of the promotion but not providing an advertising platform for it. Most try to attract readers through mailing lists, blogs, and social media. Many authors are struggling to reach readers. Some genres perform well, while others show only a few.

Established authors with extensive mailing lists have an advantage here, just as they do on Kindle. But they are experiencing some frustrations also as some of their readers are annoyed they can’t read the episodes on Kindle. One writer reported an unhappy fan wrote a poor review because she had to read it on her computer.

While Amazon is giving 200 tokens to new readers and the first three episodes are free, the reader needs to buy additional tokens to continue reading episodes. The number per episode is determined by the number of words, one token per one hundred words.

Some of the reluctance for Amazon readers to embrace the new format stems from either a preference to read the entire book at one time or concern the subsequent chapters won’t be posted. The second option is a valid one since already I’ve seen authors pulling their stories from Vella with plans to publish them as a book. Other authors simply get discouraged and quit posting or are posting so slowly their readers lose interest.

While my story is written, I am doing final edits and some rewriting before I post. So they are coming out every other week rather than weekly as I’d initially planned. I intend to stick with it as long as the platform continues, but I believe Amazon needs to take some steps to make it work better for the authors and readers.

Two of my fellow writers are publishing on Kindle, Kitty Turner and  Russell Jones. So, Id like to give them a shout out here. We all could sure use your help to get more traction on the system, so if you would go to Vella and read, then give a thumbs up, it would be appreciated. A review would be awesome!

Here are the stories and links:

Kitty Turner
Financial Freedom Through Writing – If you’re a writer, this is a great book to teach you some marketing basics. I’ve only read a few chapters, but I’ve learned things I didn’t know. I plan to read more as soon as I have the time.
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B092XTJJYW

Lillian I. Wolfe
Cynara’s Destiny – A young sorceress must step up to her position as ruler of a star system before she is ready. With the governors doubting her abilities, she must try to convince them they are being threatened by an alien race who want their worlds. If she can’t control her gifts, she will lose everything.
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B093BJMBJ4

Russell D. Jones
Call of the Void – A fast-moving science fiction story, this one will keep you turning the pages. Dr. Beth Adler is a medical researcher aboard a colonization ship.  When something goes awry on the planet and an injured man is brought on board, the doctors discover a bigger problem that threatens the whole ship. Ultimately, Beth is the only one who can solve the problem.
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B09BW2ZCPX

To find the Vella stories from your computer or tablet, go to this link:

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GR2L4AHPMQ44HNQ7

Are you a suspense romance fan?

If you like it or even just  enjoy suspense novels and thrillers, my alter ego (aka other pen name) is part of a giveaway on Book Funnel. With over thirty books in the promo, you’re sure to find something to read, so check it out. And check out Riona Kelly’s book, Bitter Vintage. It’s a classic suspense romance set in the 1960’s in the Northern California vineyards.

Go to the link.

Until next time when I hope to have a good update on my time travel novel (still in editing), thank you so much for reading. I appreciate it so much.

Lily

The new Kindle Vella format is now live! That means you can go read the first three episodes of my new story “Cynara’s Destiny” for free. After that you can purchase tokens to continue reading. The first 6 episodes are live with two more ready to release soon. After that I will be putting up a new episode every two weeks (or maybe sooner) as I get the final edits done on them.

The story is completed, but I am doing the fine tuning and a little rewriting to make it read better and make sure it’s clean. So, check it out and give me a like on each episode if you enjoy it! Once you get going and purchase tokens, you can vote for a favorite also. Hope it’s mine!

When an alien force threatens, a sixteen-year-old sorceress must learn to use her birthright gifts to save her solar system. Cynara faces opposition and doubt regarding her theories about possible other world invasion from the planet’s governors and she doubts her own ability to protect the whole the system. Telepathically connected to her companion, a frost leopard, the team sets off to discover the truth when crops start dying in the west and the river waters are fouled.

Find “Cynara’s Destiny” at this link:

And be sure to share this link with your friends and other sci-fi/fantasy lovers! Thank you so much!